A Full Day

Everyone is greeting each other with "Happy New Year" and rightly so. We live in such optimism on this day, but looking back at 2010, which began with the same optimistic greetings, we see that all was not "happy" last year. But let us look at what this day offers and ask that it set the tone for how we live in the months ahead, how we might retain our optimism and spread it to others. Today is "New Year's Day", the Octave of Christmas, the World Day of Peace, the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the First Saturday of the Month, and the Vigil of Epiphany. It's a day loaded with significance and power. Pope Pius XI back in 1931 initiated a feast called The Maternity of Mary, to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 which declared Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of God. It was transfered to January 1st by Pope Paul VI in 1974, and is a fitting way to begin the New Year, for she is indeed our Mother. At Medjugorje, she refers to herself as the Queen of Peace, so it is also fitting that we pray for peace on the World Day of Peace. It might be good to offer a rosary for peace today, as we think of all those men and women in uniform in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Korea, and other "hotspots" around the world. Peace is elusive, and can only come when hearts are changed. New Year's resolutions are in vogue today, (and usually fizzle by the end of the month, if not sooner), but if we pray for a change of heart for ourselves, then our actions, our lives can have a ripple effect in the lives of others, and with our prayers and Mary's intercession, bring to reality that elusive peace.
Bro. Rene